America’s Middle Class Is Shrinking the Most in These 50 Cities

The middle class is often synonymous with having enough money to take care of all your basic expenses without struggling too much, but not having so much that you’re wealthy either.

Many people aspire to be middle class, particularly on the upper end of the range that is generally defined as making between $50,000 and $150,000. 

Yet, for a variety of reasons, including wage stagnation, steep inflation and more, the middle class is actually starting to shrink in many American cities, making it tougher to stay in this seemingly comfortable class bracket.

To get a better sense of just how much the middle class is shrinking, and where, GOBankingRates looked at all U.S. cities with 40,000 or more households, as sourced from the 2022 American Community Survey, in order to find the 50 cities where the middle class has shrunk the most. GOBankingRates then found which percent of each city’s households falls into that middle class range of earning between $50,000 and $150,000. 

The cities were ranked on a five-year change in percentage of middle-class households from 2017 to 2022.

Read on to find out which 50 cities had the greatest decrease. Also see signs you might not be middle class anymore.

• 2022 total households: 46,524
• 2017 % of middle class households: 50.4
• 2022 % of middle class households: 47.5
• 5-year change: -5.75%

• 2022 total households: 107,448
• 2017 % of middle class households: 50.0
• 2022 % of middle class households: 47.1
• 5-year change: -5.80%

• 2022 total households: 91,368
• 2017 % of middle class households: 53.4
• 2022 % of middle class households: 50.2
• 5-year change: -5.99%

• 2022 total households: 57,553
• 2017 % of middle class households: 52.5
• 2022 % of middle class households: 49.3
• 5-year change: -6.10%

• 2022 total households: 276,053
• 2017 % of middle class households: 39.3
• 2022 % of middle class households: 36.9
• 5-year change: -6.11%

• 2022 total households: 55,719
• 2017 % of middle class households: 47.0
• 2022 % of middle class households: 44.1
• 5-year change: -6.17%

• 2022 total households: 79,015
• 2017 % of middle class households: 57.0
• 2022 % of middle class households: 53.4
• 5-year change: -6.32%

• 2022 total households: 170,282
• 2017 % of middle class households: 41.0
• 2022 % of middle class households: 38.4
• 5-year change: -6.34%

• 2022 total households: 107,134
• 2017 % of middle class households: 52.9
• 2022 % of middle class households: 49.3
• 5-year change: -6.81%

• 2022 total households: 50,211
• 2017 % of middle class households: 53.2
• 2022 % of middle class households: 49.5
• 5-year change: -6.95%

• 2022 total households: 40,633
• 2017 % of middle class households: 56.2
• 2022 % of middle class households: 52.2
• 5-year change: -7.12%

• 2022 total households: 47,014
• 2017 % of middle class households: 47.6
• 2022 % of middle class households: 44.1
• 5-year change: -7.35%

• 2022 total households: 43,164
• 2017 % of middle class households: 37.7
• 2022 % of middle class households: 34.9
• 5-year change: -7.43%

• 2022 total households: 74,818
• 2017 % of middle class households: 48.5
• 2022 % of middle class households: 44.8
• 5-year change: -7.63%

• 2022 total households: 51,460
• 2017 % of middle class households: 48.3
• 2022 % of middle class households: 44.6
• 5-year change: -7.66%

• 2022 total households: 41,954
• 2017 % of middle class households: 51.4
• 2022 % of middle class households: 47.4
• 5-year change: -7.78%

• 2022 total households: 44,336
• 2017 % of middle class households: 49.8
• 2022 % of middle class households: 45.6
• 5-year change: -8.43%

Pictured: Anaheim

• 2022 total households: 43,658
• 2017 % of middle class households: 39.5
• 2022 % of middle class households: 36.1
• 5-year change: -8.61%

• 2022 total households: 51,021
• 2017 % of middle class households: 54.1
• 2022 % of middle class households: 49.4
• 5-year change: -8.69%

• 2022 total households: 77,641
• 2017 % of middle class households: 49.3
• 2022 % of middle class households: 44.5
• 5-year change: -9.74%

• 2022 total households: 54,813
• 2017 % of middle class households: 53.2
• 2022 % of middle class households: 47.9
• 5-year change: -9.96%

• 2022 total households: 41,838
• 2017 % of middle class households: 52.6
• 2022 % of middle class households: 47.2
• 5-year change: -10.27%

• 2022 total households: 49,542
• 2017 % of middle class households: 51.5
• 2022 % of middle class households: 46.2
• 5-year change: -10.29%

• 2022 total households: 56,076
• 2017 % of middle class households: 44.5
• 2022 % of middle class households: 39.6
• 5-year change: -11.01%

• 2022 total households: 49,475
• 2017 % of middle class households: 41.2
• 2022 % of middle class households: 36.5
• 5-year change: -11.41%

• 2022 total households: 66,120
• 2017 % of middle class households: 47.8
• 2022 % of middle class households: 42.3
• 5-year change: -11.51%

• 2022 total households: 56,133
• 2017 % of middle class households: 50.4
• 2022 % of middle class households: 44.5
• 5-year change: -11.71%

• 2022 total households: 45,788
• 2017 % of middle class households: 38
• 2022 % of middle class households: 33.3
• 5-year change: -12.37%

• 2022 total households: 90,299
• 2017 % of middle class households: 57.3
• 2022 % of middle class households: 49.7
• 5-year change: -13.26%

• 2022 total households: 345,246
• 2017 % of middle class households:  44.3
• 2022 % of middle class households: 38.4
• 5-year change: -13.32%

• 2022 total households: 42,451
• 2017 % of middle class households: 55.5
• 2022 % of middle class households: 48.1
• 5-year change: -13.33%

• 2022 total households: 70,502
• 2017 % of middle class households: 45.2
• 2022 % of middle class households: 39.1
• 5-year change: -13.50%

• 2022 total households: 43,936
• 2017 % of middle class households: 50.9
• 2022 % of middle class households: 43.8
• 5-year change: -13.95%

• 2022 total households: 110,887
• 2017 % of middle class households: 45.7
• 2022 % of middle class households: 39.2
• 5-year change: -14.22%

• 2022 total households: 41,077
• 2017 % of middle class households: 50.6
• 2022 % of middle class households: 43.4
• 5-year change: -14.23%

• 2022 total households: 45,574
• 2017 % of middle class households: 52.5
• 2022 % of middle class households: 44.7
• 5-year change: -14.86%

• 2022 total households: 46,143
• 2017 % of middle class households: 45.5
• 2022 % of middle class households: 38.4
• 5-year change: -15.60%

​​

• 2022 total households: 40,952
• 2017 % of middle class households: 54.8
• 2022 % of middle class households: 46.1
• 5-year change: -15.88%

• 2022 total households: 68,224
• 2017 % of middle class households: 52.4
• 2022 % of middle class households: 44.0
• 5-year change: -16.03%

• 2022 total households: 73,362
• 2017 % of middle class households: 51.6
• 2022 % of middle class households: 43.2
• 5-year change: -16.28%

• 2022 total households: 46,207
• 2017 % of middle class households: 41.3
• 2022 % of middle class households: 34.3
• 5-year change: -16.95%

• 2022 total households: 324,842
• 2017 % of middle class households: 43.4
• 2022 % of middle class households: 36.0
• 5-year change: -17.05%

• 2022 total households: 53,815
• 2017 % of middle class households: 44.7
• 2022 % of middle class households: 36.9
• 5-year change: -17.45%

• 2022 total households: 360,842
• 2017 % of middle class households: 37.5
• 2022 % of middle class households: 30.6
• 5-year change: -18.40%

• 2022 total households: 60,882
• 2017 % of middle class households: 43.1
• 2022 % of middle class households: 34.9
• 5-year change: -19.03%

• 2022 total households: 43,912
• 2017 % of middle class households: 44.5
• 2022 % of middle class households: 35.4
• 5-year change: -20.45%

• 2022 total households: 110,465
• 2017 % of middle class households: 44.6
• 2022 % of middle class households: 35.3
• 5-year change: -20.85%

• 2022 total households: 58,646
• 2017 % of middle class households: 39.8
• 2022 % of middle class households: 31.4
• 5-year change: -21.11%

• 2022 total households: 47,434
• 2017 % of middle class households: 43.4
• 2022 % of middle class households: 30.7
• 5-year change: -29.26%

• 2022 total households: 74,995
• 2017 % of middle class households: 44.7
• 2022 % of middle class households: 31.1
• 5-year change: -30.43%

Methodology: GOBankingRates looked at all United States cities with at least 40,000 households, as sourced from the 2022 American Community Survey, in order to find the 50 cities where the middle class has shrunk the most. GOBankingRates found which percent of each city’s households in 2022 would be considered middle class (earning between $50,000 and $150,000). The cities were ranked on 5-year change in percentage of middle-class households (2017-22). The 50 cities with the greatest decrease change were included in the final rankings. This was the only ranking factor and all data was collected from the 2017 and 2022 American Community Surveys conducted by the United States Census Bureau. Supplemental data for each city was found on the 5-year change in households making $50,000 to $74,999, $75,000 to $99,999 and $100,000 to $149,999. All data was compiled on and up to date as of April 11, 2024.